NFL suspends Bills' Tyrel Dodson 6 games for domestic abuse

John Wawrow, Ap Sports Writer

Updated
10:12 am EDT, Friday, September 13, 2019

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2019, file photo, Buffalo Bills linebacker Tyrel Dodson (53) plays against the Detroit Lions during an NFL preseason football game in Detroit. The NFL has suspended Buffalo Bills rookie linebacker Tyrel Dodson for six games as a result of an alleged altercation with his girlfriend at her home in Scottsdale, Arizona. Dodson was suspended for violating the league's personal conduct policy Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019, a day after the player reached an agreement with prosecutors to defer a domestic violence charge of disorderly conduct-disruptive behavior-fighting. less

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2019, file photo, Buffalo Bills linebacker Tyrel Dodson (53) plays against the Detroit Lions during an NFL preseason football game in Detroit. The NFL has suspended Buffalo Bills rookie ... more

Photo: Rick Osentoski, AP

Photo: Rick Osentoski, AP

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FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2019, file photo, Buffalo Bills linebacker Tyrel Dodson (53) plays against the Detroit Lions during an NFL preseason football game in Detroit. The NFL has suspended Buffalo Bills rookie linebacker Tyrel Dodson for six games as a result of an alleged altercation with his girlfriend at her home in Scottsdale, Arizona. Dodson was suspended for violating the league's personal conduct policy Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019, a day after the player reached an agreement with prosecutors to defer a domestic violence charge of disorderly conduct-disruptive behavior-fighting. less

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2019, file photo, Buffalo Bills linebacker Tyrel Dodson (53) plays against the Detroit Lions during an NFL preseason football game in Detroit. The NFL has suspended Buffalo Bills rookie ... more

Photo: Rick Osentoski, AP

NFL suspends Bills' Tyrel Dodson 6 games for domestic abuse

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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The NFL has suspended Buffalo Bills rookie linebacker Tyrel Dodson for six games as a result of an alleged altercation with his girlfriend at her home in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Dodson was suspended for violating the league's personal conduct policy Thursday, a day after the player reached an agreement with prosecutors to defer a domestic violence charge of disorderly conduct-disruptive behavior-fighting.

Dodson has agreed to enter a diversion program and must also meet other conditions to have the charge cleared from his record. He is scheduled to have a restitution hearing in November and has a sentencing hearing set for Sept. 14, 2020.

Separate charges of assault and property damage were dropped as part of the agreement.

Dodson spent the offseason practicing with the team before being placed on the reserve/commissioner's exempt list on Aug. 31, when the Bills made their final cuts to establish their regular-season roster.

He was an undrafted rookie free agent out of Texas A&M, and signed with Buffalo on May 9.

He was arrested at a nightclub following the altercation on May 25.

Bills general manager Brandon Beane says a team investigation found no credible evidence of Dodson committing an act of domestic violence. He adds the team's pre-draft evaluation of Dodson showed no history of him getting into legal trouble.